Catholic News

  • Pope Leo outlines his vision of the priests that the Church needs today (CWN)
    In a letter to the priests of the Archdiocese of Madrid. Pope Leo XIV outlined his vision of the “type of priests that Madrid—and the entire Church—needs at this time.”
  • Pope thanks floral, Vatican building services stafff (Vatican News)
    Pope Leo XIV thanked the staff members of the Vatican City State’s Floral and Construction Services during a February 8 audience. “You have shown great passion for your tasks, especially during the Jubilee Year that has just ended,” Pope said during the audience, which took place in Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace. “The decorum of the areas and the safety of the structures find their highest meaning in the support given to the devotion of the faithful and to the pastoral work of the Church.”
  • In Nigeria, gunmen kill 3, abduct 11, including priest (AP)
    Gunmen attacked a village in the area of Kauru, Nigeria, on February 7, and abducted 11, including a priest, after killing three people. The incident took place in Kaduna State. In neighboring Niger State, gunmen attacked a convent, a Catholic hospital, and two Protestant churches on February 1.
  • Pope speaks of his devotion to Our Lady, asks the sick to offer their pain to God through Mary (CWN)
    In a Latin-language letter to his special envoy to the principal celebration of the World Day of the Sick, Pope Leo XIV spoke about his devotion to Our Lady.
  • 19th-century Spanish priest beatified (CWN)
    Father Salvador Valera Parra (1816-1889), a Spanish parish priest, was beatified in his hometown of Huércal-Overa on February 7.
  • Venezuelan cardinal calls on faithful to pray outside prisons (El País (Spanish))
    The retired archbishop of Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, called upon the faithful to gather outside prisons on February 7, pray for the release of political prisoners, and offer support to the prisoners’ families. Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras, 81, issued his call five weeks after the United States removed strongman Nicolás Maduro from office. The nation’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, was Maduro’s vice president.
  • Bishop describes plight of Zaporizhzhia, under Russian attack (Vatican News)
    In an interview with Vatican News, a Latin-rite bishop described the present situation in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. Auxiliary Bishop Jan Sobilo of Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia said that Russian forces “are bombing our city, the energy system, everything that gives us light and heat. As a result, life is very hard for people and for the soldiers.” “Helping our soldiers is extremely important,” he added. “If they do not defend us, then any other aid will no longer matter. The occupiers would come and take everything.”
  • Archbishop Hicks, at New York installation Mass, calls for a 'missionary Church, not a country club' (CWN)
    Archbishop Ronald Hicks was installed as archbishop of New York on February 6, at a Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral (video).
  • USCCB publishes diocesan guide for evangelizing catechisis (USCCB)
    The US bishops’ Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis has published a Companion to the Handbook on the Catechetical Accompaniment Process: A Diocesan Guide for an Evangelizing Catechesis. The introduction to the 85-page guide explains: Evangelizing catechesis, at its heart, is a ministry of accompaniment— walking with others toward a deeper encounter with Jesus Christ. This is a much richer process than solely intellectual formation, and includes liturgical, spiritual, and moral formation. Catechesis, which unfolds the beauty and treasures of Church teaching, presupposes evangelization. Evangelization aims to put people in touch with Jesus Christ; catechesis builds upon this relationship and “formalizes” it.
  • Cardinal Pizzaballa: 'Concrete actions' needed to rebuild trust in Holy Land (Vatican News)
    The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, speaking at a parish in Rome, said that “the wounds are still deep” in the Holy Land. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, said that “peace and reconciliation are beautiful concepts, but they risk remaining mere slogans if they are not accompanied today by concrete actions, gestures, and testimonies that physically demonstrate the possibility of rebuilding trust.” “We need political leadership, but also religious leadership, on both sides, that has some vision and does not base its authority solely on anger and the thirst for revenge,” he added.
  • Westminster diocesan employee who stole $130K avoids jail (LBC)
    An employee of the Diocese of Westminster, England, received a two-year suspended sentence for transferring more than £96,000 ($130,600) of diocesan funds to her personal account. “All in all, you were funding yourself to a reasonably good standard of lifestyle—grossly and dishonestly,” Judge Mark Weekes told Francisca Yawson, formerly a gift aid and operations technician for the diocese.
  • Pope Leo issues 'Life in Abundance,' the most extensive papal document on sports (CWN)
    Pope Leo XIV has issued “Life in Abundance,” a letter on the value of sport, on the occasion of the 25th Winter Olympic Games and 14th Paralympic Games.
  • Pope approves new statutes for Pontifical International Marian Academy (Vatican News)
    The Holy See Press Office announced on February 7 that Pope Leo XIV approved new statutes for the Pontifical International Marian Academy. The approval came during a January 21 papal audience with Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State. Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, reported that “these new rules recognize the need to update the Academy’s guidelines to better align with its evolving mission and the current structure of the Curial institutions.”
  • Pope Leo outlines his vision of Christian formation (CWN)
    Pope Leo XIV reflected at length on Christian formation in an address to the plenary assembly of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.
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